Thread: Fram oil filters - crap or not??

Originally Posted by motorking

Whatever my man, your now the Chevy engine build expert, enjoy you day drinking and driving your sometimes fast boat.

Take a lap through this thread and go lay down by your dish
The anatomy of an oil filter: Part One

wix on all the vehicles... tried purolator once in my old explorer it knocked like crazy, threw a wix back in and was fine.. idk if the screen is ungodly fine or what but yeah..

I have used Fram filters in all my cars and have never had a problem. I have gone well over 200,000 on three of them and all still ran great.

I've never had problems with Fram oil filters. Love the rubber grip for ease changing the filter.

Fram is crapolla! I have been in the autoparts industry for years as well as building race cars and I will never use a Fram. If you change your oil every 3000-4000 miles then factory or house brand ie purolator, Napa (wix), Bosch will be fine. If running a full syn and changing every 5000-8000 miles then go with high end filters. Hell I will use walmart house brand (super tech) or stp before I use Fram.

As a Blue Oval guy, I use the Motorcraft FL-1A when I can get them (without going to the local Stealership). I currently have a 1978 Ford F-150 with a 400 cid that used to pull cattle for our farm & haul feed for our store - now my daily driver. Only Motorcraft or Fram PH8A filters (all that was available where I grew up) for its entire life. No motor rebuilds or repairs beyond rebuilding the Autolite 2150 carb - only difference is that it is now usually between a half of a quart and 1 quart low at oil change time - not bad for 257,000 miles and 34 years. My 1995 Ranger (now my son's) had the same filters and is now at 220,000 miles - just now changing the original water pump with no other repairs beyond changing a belt or a radiator hose. Now I do run AC-Delco on the 02 Trailblazer, but that is just because the other filters that are available are only about 2/3 of the size of the AC-Delco - at 212,000 miles, it does use more oil than the other two. - I do think bigger is better when it comes to oil filters and sundry other things.

Wow, that is harsh on a lot of the crowd favs. I do wonder why the media surface area received a lower weighting, though. Unless my physics are off, larger surface area on a given media increases flow rate and "crap-trap" area.

In my 00 GP GT I had always used fram and a high milage oil for the last 3ish yrs.. The last oil change in December I switched over to mobile 5000 and Wix filter... As of 2day my oil looks cleaner than one months use of fram/high mileage oil!!! Same normal driving.. Its my daily driver also... I almost cant beleive it. Lol. Only thing I did kinda notice the car seems to run a little bit warmer not sure if oil has anything to do with that but just saying.. Its the correct weight of oil for the GP.

There is a common misconception that the color of your oil has anything to do with the quality of the oil or how clean it is. The fact is, when your oil gets dark it is doing it's job and pulling the impurities out of the engine and suspending them in the oil. It sounds to me like the additional cleaners and additives in the high mileage oil were doing a better job than the oil you switched to, but due to the common misconception that oil shouldn't get 'darker' you believe you now have a better solution than before. Since you also changed both oil AND filter, you now have no way of knowing whether the oil or the filter is or is not doing it's job properly. If you want to know what is really going on you need to stay with the same oil and filter for a few changes, then TEST your oil (where you send it out for oil analysis), then change JUST the oil OR filter, run that for a few change cycles, then send that out for testing. The results will then tell you if the change improved or decreased the wear in your engine and which component (oil or filter) is or is not doing it's job. You can then switch oils and/or filters around (and let them run a few oil change cycles so when you test you are fully testing the new product) and send it out again until you find a combination that works for you. All this talk of 'I did this and it looks better to my naked/untrained eye' or 'I read so and so unreliable test on the internet' or this or that is all just hyberbole and opinion. If all you want is opinion then just say my personal preference is this or that and I have no scientific and analytical reason for it, that is just what I prefer. This is like debating whether Ford is crap or whether Chevy lasts longer or runs better. It is all opinion unless you have empirical data to back it up.

Originally Posted by 40th GP

There is a common misconception that the color of your oil has anything to do with the quality of the oil or how clean it is. The fact is, when your oil gets dark it is doing it's job and pulling the impurities out of the engine and suspending them in the oil. It sounds to me like the additional cleaners and additives in the high mileage oil were doing a better job than the oil you switched to, but due to the common misconception that oil shouldn't get 'darker' you believe you now have a better solution than before. Since you also changed both oil AND filter, you now have no way of knowing whether the oil or the filter is or is not doing it's job properly. If you want to know what is really going on you need to stay with the same oil and filter for a few changes, then TEST your oil (where you send it out for oil analysis), then change JUST the oil OR filter, run that for a few change cycles, then send that out for testing. The results will then tell you if the change improved or decreased the wear in your engine and which component (oil or filter) is or is not doing it's job. You can then switch oils and/or filters around (and let them run a few oil change cycles so when you test you are fully testing the new product) and send it out again until you find a combination that works for you. All this talk of 'I did this and it looks better to my naked/untrained eye' or 'I read so and so unreliable test on the internet' or this or that is all just hyberbole and opinion. If all you want is opinion then just say my personal preference is this or that and I have no scientific and analytical reason for it, that is just what I prefer. This is like debating whether Ford is crap or whether Chevy lasts longer or runs better. It is all opinion unless you have empirical data to back it up.

Yes i see your point ...On a side note... I have sent my oil in to blackstone twice a yr for the past couple of evrything was fine, was a lil high on something.. Cant remember exactly what it was..(notes are home i am at work) in the next month or two i will do an oil change and send this cycle of oil in.

Originally Posted by tc300

Yes i see your point ...On a side note... I have sent my oil in to blackstone twice a yr for the past couple of evrything was fine, was a lil high on something.. Cant remember exactly what it was..(notes are home i am at work) in the next month or two i will do an oil change and send this cycle of oil in.

That will give you a lot better idea than looking at it and saying it looks better. Looks don't really have anything to do with it. However, I would wait until your next change to do the analysis, because only one oil change will still have traces of the old oil in the system. You also want to stay with the same filter throughout the oil testing until you know which oil is doing a better job, then you can stay with that oil and change filters and continue testing to see which filter is doing a better job.

Originally Posted by 40th GP

That will give you a lot better idea than looking at it and saying it looks better. Looks don't really have anything to do with it. However, I would wait until your next change to do the analysis, because only one oil change will still have traces of the old oil in the system. You also want to stay with the same filter throughout the oil testing until you know which oil is doing a better job, then you can stay with that oil and change filters and continue testing to see which filter is doing a better job.

I got a 6pack of wix for 10.44 off ebay so they will get used b4 i buy anything... Lol. They look soooo well better made than fram!!